The Federal Reserve discontinued its survey of industrial electric power use with the publication on December 15, 2005, of data for October 2005. The response rate for the voluntary survey had dropped significantly since the early 1990s, with coverage in 2004 nearly 40 percent less than at its peak in 1993. With the publication of the annual revision to the G.17 on November 7, 2005, the monthly indicators for the industrial production indexes for the twenty industries that previously relied on electric power use were changed to production-worker hours for the period 1997 to the present. Although the indexes of electric power use will no longer be updated,

The Federal Reserve's monthly index of industrial production and the related capacity indexes and capacity utilization rates cover manufacturing, mining, and electric and gas utilities. The industrial sector, together with construction, accounts for the bulk of the variation in national output over the course of the business cycle. The industrial detail provided by these measures helps illuminate structural developments in the economy. The industrial production (IP) index measures the real output of all relevant establishments located in the United States, regardless of their ownership, but not those located in U.S. territories. For more information, see the explanatory notes issued by the Board of Governors. For recent updates, see the announcements issued by the Board of Governors.